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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

FELDSTED -- Political correctness is an artificial construct designed to splinter our society into factions that argue over trivia rather than focus on our common problems and successes


Only 1 Woman Applied to Fill Empty Supreme Court Seat, Panel Chair Kim Campbell Says. No applicants were Indigenous or self-identified as a minority.
Jordan Press ~~ Canadian Press / HUFFPOST ~~ 07/25/2019

OTTAWA — More women, Indigenous and minority judges could find themselves on the Supreme Court if the government took a longer view of filling spots instead of scrambling to fill vacancies, says former prime minister Kim Campbell ... headed the advisory body that led to Quebec judge Nicholas Kasirer’s being nominated to succeed Justice Clement Gascon ...

... suggested that rather than opening applications whenever a vacancy pops up — even retirements that come with six months of notice, as Gascon’s has — federal officials could have ongoing talks with the judiciary and the wider legal community about the needs of the Supreme Court to encourage more people to apply, particularly women and minorities...

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Political correctness raises its ugly head again. We want the best qualified and experienced members of the legal profession to sit as judges at any level. Experience and knowledge are more important at superior court, appellate and higher levels all the way to the Supreme Court. Gender and ethnic character are not factors. If the best qualified person is an aboriginal female, she is best qualified for a promotion.

The banality of phrases like: “all men are created equal” go unchallenged. It depends on where you were ‘created’. The cultures of Canada and Iran, Qatar and France, the USA and Myanmar are very different and the roles of men and women vary by country of birth.

We have beaten the term ‘equality’ to a meaningless and unrecognizable pulp. People are not equal. Men and women bring different attributes, viewpoints, skills, intellect and reasoning to the table. There are outstanding examples of both and millions of others who are followers. Claiming that they are all equal is nonsense.

Every ethnic group has outstanding achievers and criminals. Sometimes the achievers are criminals. If it were not so, elected officials could never be corrupt.

No one should be disqualified due to gender, ethnicity or colour. We have gone overboard in allowing minority groups to claim discrimination when the real cause of their problems is a combination of bad behaviour and poor choices coupled with a sense of entitlement.

That brings up another social ill we refuse to deal with. Why do we have minority groups? When did we decide that some of us should be set apart from others?

Officially, I am ‘white’ but I am also a member of a minority group. My ethnicity should not give me any privilege and my whiteness should not engender scorn from others. I reject the concept of white guilt for contributing to a positive, progressive world with more democracies than any other group in history.

The British Empire at one time dominated the world. It did not become so by playing nice or not enforcing its will on other nations and cultures. Over time it waned and morphed into the British commonwealth of nations. It brought us the common law system, and the parliamentary system.

Over time, commonwealth nations around the world became independent democracies with the same fundamental legal system. Hundreds of millions enjoy freedoms, independence and rights as a result.

We owe out heritage to millions of immigrants who came to Canada, many while we were still a colony of Great Britain and a nation in the making.

Initially, the dominant ethnic group in Canada was French. Every other immigrant was a member of some minority group. Can you imagine the chaos if we had applied current political correctness to our society at that time, instead of learning to live with our neighbours?

Political correctness is an artificial construct designed to splinter our society into factions that argue over trivia rather than focus on our common problems and successes and a censorship vehicle designed to stifle free speech and debate on government initiatives.

Those who gain from the splintering and censorship are political parties and their candidates who are out of control and don’t serve anyone but themselves.

John Feldsted
Political commentator, consultant & strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba

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